FIND and Unitaid launch call for expression of interest to accelerate availability and manufacturing scale-up of rapid diagnostic tests for COVID-19
- Call aims to fill major diagnostic gaps in the detection of active SARS-CoV-2 infection for patient management and contact tracing purposes in decentralized settings, most critically needed in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)
- Innovators, developers and manufacturers of rapid diagnostic tests and in vitro diagnostics, and LMIC-based diagnostic stakeholders, are invited to submit proposals
- Launch of this EOI is the latest milestone for the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator Diagnostics Pillar, co-convened by FIND and The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
Geneva – The Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) and Unitaid announced today that the organizations have launched a call for expressions of interest (EOI) to accelerate the availability and manufacturing scale-up of rapid diagnostic tests for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 antigens (Ag RDTs). Reliable, affordable Ag RDTs have been identified as key tools in the global response to COVID-19, as they could enable robust detection of active SARS-CoV-2 infection for both patient management and contact tracing purposes in decentralized settings. This EOI has been prepared in the context of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator Diagnostics Pillar, co-convened by FIND and The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
High-quality, accurate testing data offers reliable information that can save lives and enable economies to re-open safely: by isolating those who are infected, we can break the chain of transmission. While vaccine research is moving fast, promising treatments are also beginning to emerge and testing will be essential to determine who should be treated with which therapy. With today’s laboratory-based molecular tests, testing capacity is currently highly centralized, and often insufficient to meet the current demand. While countries in all regions have experienced testing challenges, the needs are more acute in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where fragile health systems and exclusive reliance on global supply chains have often left LMICs unable to access much-needed tests. Decentralizing testing – so it can be made available in primary care, in community settings, and potentially even at home – will be critical to support the introduction of treatments, and later the roll out of vaccines.
As set out in the ACT-Accelerator Diagnostics Pillar investment case, an estimated 500 million COVID-19 diagnostic tests will be needed in LMICs over the next 12 months, 75% of which in decentralized settings (i.e. primary healthcare, community-level care, hospital triage). There is emerging consensus about the important role that SARS-CoV-2 Ag RDTs will play, as the primary diagnostic for active infection detection in decentralized settings where timely molecular testing is not available.
The EOI has been launched to support the work plans of two working groups within the ACT-Accelerator Diagnostics Pillar: “R&D of tests & digital tools” (led by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Praesens Foundation) and “Market readiness” (led by Unitaid and FIND). Proposals are invited from innovators, RDT developers, in vitro diagnostics (IVD) manufacturers and LMIC-based diagnostic stakeholders, in two key areas:
- Accelerating development and market entry of improved, quality-assured SARS-CoV-2 Ag RDTs for expanded use in LMICs
- Rapidly creating the supply conditions (manufacturing capacity, diversity of supplier base, affordability) to meet the needs of LMICs
An initial budget envelope of up to US$40 million of grant funding, to be made available by FIND and Unitaid and supplemented by loan funding from development banks, could support at least 2–4 proposals that offer best value for money. As additional funding becomes available, further proposals will be considered. Funding negotiations will be conducted independently for each proposal, and will be tailored to the applicant’s needs and the specifics of each business case. Funding could take many forms, such as R&D grant funding, loans for infrastructure scale up, licensure agreements, and/or longer-term volume commitments.
This EOI is the latest milestone in progress made by the ACT-Accelerator Diagnostics Pillar, which in the last 8 weeks has included the set-up of a multi-country evaluation platform to “test the tests” (results now published for evaluations of both molecular tests and immunoassays), completion of a modelling analysis to quantify the impact of COVID-19 testing to inform country policy and strategy, and procurement of over 5 million diagnostic tests through the World Health Organization (WHO) Supply Consortium.
Catharina Boehme, CEO of FIND, said: “Testing is already enabling countries to implement test-trace-isolate strategies, which have had a dramatic effect on containing the pandemic in countries including New Zealand, South Korea and Germany. But low- and middle-income countries are being left behind. Simple, affordable, high-quality antigen RDTs will enable COVID-19 diagnosis without the need for complex laboratory facilities – which will be vital to treating quickly and appropriately.”
Philippe Duneton, Unitaid Executive Director a.i., said: “We need 500 million COVID-19 tests for low and middle-income countries in the next 12 months. To reach that target we need cheaper and easier to use tests such as antigen RDTs. Accelerating their development and manufacturing scale-up is key to enable access to testing worldwide.”
Peter Sands, Executive Director of The Global Fund, said: “Mobilizing new partners is a critical step toward scaling up test, trace and isolate strategies to stop the spread of COVID-19 and to roll out treatments and vaccines once available. We urgently need fast, easy-to-use tests that can be used not by professional medical staff like doctors and nurses, but also by the community health workers who are on the frontlines of fighting COVID-19 in the most vulnerable communities around the world.”
Full details on the EOI and information on how to apply can be found here: www.finddx.org/eoi-covid19-ag-rdt
Download online workshops co-hosted by FIND and Unitaid:
About the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator
The Access to COVID-19 Tools ACT-Accelerator, is a new, ground-breaking global collaboration to accelerate the development, production, and equitable access to COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines. It was set up in response to a call from G20 leaders in March and launched by the WHO, European Commission, France and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in April 2020. The ACT-Accelerator is not a decision-making body or a new organization, but works to speed up collaborative efforts among existing organizations to end the pandemic. It is a framework for collaboration that has been designed to bring key players around the table with the goal of ending the pandemic as quickly as possible through the accelerated development, equitable allocation, and scaled up delivery of tests, treatments and vaccines, thereby protecting health systems and restoring societies and economies in the near term. It draws on the experience of leading global health organizations which are tackling the world’s toughest health challenges, and who, by working together, are able to unlock new and more ambitious results against COVID-19. Its members share a commitment to ensure all people have access to all the tools needed to defeat COVID-19 and to work with unprecedented levels of partnership to achieve it. The ACT-Accelerator has four areas of work: diagnostics, therapeutics, vaccines and the health system connector. Cross-cutting all of these is the workstream on Access & Allocation..
About FIND
FIND is a global non-profit organization that drives innovation in the development and delivery of diagnostics to combat major diseases affecting the world’s poorest populations. Our work bridges R&D to access, overcoming scientific barriers to technology development; generating evidence for regulators and policy-makers; addressing market failures; and enabling accelerated uptake and access to diagnostics in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Since 2003, we have been instrumental in the development of 24 new diagnostic tools used in 150 LMICs. Over 50 million FIND-supported products have been provided to our target markets since the start of 2015. A WHO Collaborating Centre, we work with more than 200 academic, industry, governmental, and civil society partners worldwide, on over 70 active projects that cross six priority disease areas. FIND is committed to a future in which diagnostics underpin treatment decisions and provide the foundation for disease surveillance, control and prevention. For more information, please visit www.finddx.org
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For information on Unitaid’s response to COVID-19 please see https://unitaid.org/covid-19/#en
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ACT-Accelerator moves to expand access to dexamethasone for low- and middle-income countries for COVID-19 treatment
Geneva – Unitaid and Wellcome have joined forces with partners in the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) to expand access to dexamethasone for low- and middle-income countries as part ensuring equitable access to therapeutics in the COVID-19 response.
Working with other partners in the ACT-A Therapeutics Partnership, UNICEF and Unitaid have agreed an initial purchase of oral and injectable dexamethasone to secure quality treatment. This move will support access for patients in low- and middle-income countries, where it is expected that up to 4.5 million patients could benefit from dexamethasone based on preliminary projection of needs.
Initial funding has been committed equally by UNICEF and Unitaid, with additional funding to come from pledges made to the ACT-A Therapeutics Partnership.
This is a concrete example of the efforts to coordinate a global response to the COVID-19 pandemic through the ACT-A, and in particular the Therapeutics Partnership. Under the joint leadership of Unitaid and Wellcome the ACT-A Therapeutics Partnership is continuing work to identify, accelerate and deliver therapeutics for COVID-19.
Dr Philippe Duneton, Unitaid Executive Director a.i., said, “With this advanced purchase we aim to ensure equitable access for low- and middle-income countries for treatment of COVID-19 with the life-saving drug dexamethasone, and avoid shortages resulting from high-levels of demand from other parts of the world. It will allow UNICEF, the Global Fund and other partners to procure quality dexamethasone.”
Paul Schreier, Chief Operating Officer, Wellcome, said “Dexamethasone is the first and only drug that has made a significant difference to patient mortality for COVID-19, and this agreement will help patients in low-and middle income countries access it. Researchers have worked at an unprecedented speed to get these results. The ACT-Accelerator is matching this pace by ensuring manufacturing and delivery is as smooth – and equitable – as possible. We don’t yet know which treatments, tests and vaccines will be the most effective, which is why we must invest in wide range of options – at risk and at scale.”
“UNICEF and Unitaid along with other ACT Accelerator partners have taken steps now to pre-empt market constraints to facilitate access to a demonstrated life-saving product,” said Etleva Kadilli, Director of the UNICEF supply and procurement headquarters. “I am proud of the collaboration, agility and expertise that will allow us to secure these initial quantities of Dexamethasone. It represents another step towards equitable access to much-needed COVID-19 tools particularly for low and middle income countries. UNICEF will work with WHO and government partners to deliver these medicines and to procure more as more funds are made available.”
Dexamethasone is a low-cost corticosteroid, a class of medicines used to provide relief for inflammation. Evidence announced in June 2020 suggested that dexamethasone can save lives of patients with severe or critical symptoms of COVID-19 that are on ventilators or receiving oxygen therapy.
The World Health Organization is expected to issue revised guidance on the use of dexamethasone in the coming weeks, and this together with national guidelines, will be essential to ensure dexamethasone is used safely and appropriately.
Notes to Editors
Wellcome: exists to improve health by helping great ideas to thrive. We support researchers, we take on big health challenges, we campaign for better science, and we help everyone get involved with science and health research. We are a politically and financially independent foundation.
UNICEF: works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. Across more than 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone.
The Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator: is a new, ground-breaking global collaboration to accelerate the development, production, and equitable access to COVID-19 diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines. It was set up in response to a call from G20 leaders in March and launched by the WHO, EC, France and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in April 2020.The ACT-Accelerator is not a decision-making body or a new organization, but works to speed up collaborative efforts among existing organizations to end the pandemic. It is a framework for collaboration that has been designed to bring key players around the table with the goal of ending the pandemic as quickly as possible by reducing COVID-19 mortality and severe disease through the accelerated development, equitable allocation, and scaled up delivery of vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics, thereby protecting health systems and restoring societies and economies in the near term. It draws on the experience of leading global health organizations which are tackling the world’s toughest health challenges, and who, by working together, are able to unlock new and more ambitious results against COVID-19. Its members share a commitment to ensure all people have access to all the tools needed to defeat COVID-19 and to work with unprecedented levels of partnership to achieve it.
The ACT-Accelerator has four areas of work: diagnostics, therapeutics, vaccines and the health system connector. Cross-cutting all of these is the workstream on Access & Allocation. For more information please see ACT-Accelerator.
Media contacts:
Unitaid: Martin HARVEY | +41 79 249 35 29 | harveym@unitaid.who.int
Wellcome: +44 20 7611 8866 | mediaoffice@wellcome.ac.uk
For information on Unitaid’s response to COVID-19 please see https://unitaid.org/covid-19/#en
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£2.2m for Liverpool-led initiative to rapidly identify COVID-19 ‘game changing’ drugs
A Liverpool-led research initiative has been awarded more than £2.2m ($2.8m) in funding from Unitaid for AGILE, a project to rapidly identify drugs to help treat and prevent COVID-19. The funding is part of the special investment approved by Unitaid’s Executive Board to bolster the COVID-19 response.
Conventional evaluation of new medicines is too lengthy (typically 10 years) to meet the urgent need for treating and preventing COVID-19, a viral respiratory illness caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
‘Second wave’ compounds
The challenge now is to accelerate this, to quickly identify which amongst the large and diverse list of potential candidates. Large-scale trials are currently evaluating the ‘first wave’ of repurposed medicines, such as remdesivir (originally developed for Ebola), HIV-medicines, anti-inflammatories, antibiotics or antimalarials for treating or preventing COVID-19. Should these compounds fail to demonstrate benefit, a bewildering and increasing range of alternative, ‘second wave’ compounds (with less clinical evidence) have to be examined.
Since a majority of experimental treatments which initially seem attractive will eventually prove ineffective, our best chance of finding effective medicines for treatment and prevention lie in our ability to rapidly provide clinical proof-of-concept for drug candidates emerging from global preclinical screening efforts. Dynamic early stage (phase I/IIa) clinical trials are required to advance, ahead of time, plausible candidates for inclusion in randomised phase III clinical trials, and to eliminate candidates with little or no prospect of clinical success before huge resources are committed.
‘Fast track’
The AGILE COVID-19 Drug Testing Initiative, led by the University of Liverpool and involving researchers from the Liverpool Tropical School of Medicine, Southampton Clinical Trials Unit and NIHR Liverpool and Broadgreen Clinical Research Facility, has been established to enable the rapid clinical evaluation of potential COVID-19 therapeutics.
Saye Khoo, Professor of Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Liverpool, said: “AGILE uses the most modern and innovative statistical methods which allows for multiple drugs to be tested in parallel, and to remove or add treatments faster than ever before, based on results of safety and efficacy.”
“This has the advantage of testing more treatments, more quickly, to find out which new drugs are suitable for large-scale testing in COVID-19 patients. This is similar to ‘fast track’ programmes for treatment of cancer patients that are approved by the UK regulator.”
International collaboration
Andrew Owen, Professor of Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Liverpool, said: “Working closely with established consortia including key stakeholders involved in WHO-led expert groups for treatment and prevention of COVID-19, AGILE will advance plausible candidates for these consortia to test in large-scale trials.”
“AGILE has been specifically designed to rapidly identify drugs that stand the best chance of success in the battle against COVID-19.”
Dr Philippe Duneton, Unitaid Executive Director a.i., said: “The University of Liverpool AGILE project will complement the global response in therapeutics, building on the pre-clinical and clinical work by partners, in coordination with the work that Unitaid is co-leading in the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator initiative.”
“This project is designed to help accelerate finding effective medicines to treat and prevent COVID-19”.
The AGILE clinical research trials will be taking place at the NIHR Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen Clinical Research Unit based at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital. The Unit provides state of the art purpose-built facilities that offer a safe and regulated environment to perform clinical research trials to the highest possible standards.
The Unitaid funding is coming to AGILE via the LONGEVITY project which aims to develop long-acting formulations for different diseases. More about the project can be found here.
Media contacts:
- Unitaid: Martin Harvey, Communications Team Lead | +41 79 249 35 29 | harveym@unitaid.who.int
- For more information or an interview with one of the AGILE researchers please contact Simon Wood, Media Relations Manager, University of Liverpool T: +44 151 794 8356 E: simon.wood@liverpool.ac.uk
About University of Liverpool
Associated with nine Nobel Laureates, the University is recognised for its high-quality teaching and research. Our research collaborations extend worldwide and address many of the grand challenges facing humankind today.
www.liverpool.ac.uk/about
About Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM)
LSTM was the first institution in the world dedicated to research and teaching in the field of tropical medicine.
As a registered charity, we work across the world, often in very difficult circumstances, to fulfil our mission of reducing the burden of sickness and mortality in disease endemic countries. We do that through the delivery of effective interventions which improve human health and are relevant to the poorest communities.
www.lstmed.ac.uk
About Southampton Clinical Trials Unit (SCTU)
SCTU is a UKCRC registered CTU with expertise in the design, conduct and analysis of multicentre interventional clinical trials.
www.southampton.ac.uk/ctu/about/index.page
About NIHR Liverpool and Broadgreen Clinical Research Facility
Opened in 2009, providing state of the art purpose-built facilities, embedded within the Royal Liverpool Hospital which also provides specialist equipment, 24-hour emergency coverage and access to ITU, the CRF offers a safe and regulated environment to perform clinical research trials to the highest possible standards.
www.clinicalresearchliverpool.nihr.ac.uk/sponsor-zone/about-the-crf/
Unitaid commits further $35 million for COVID-19 response
Geneva – New funding of up to US$ 35 million has been approved by Unitaid’s Executive Board to support the organisation’s role in the ‘test, treat and prevent’ response to COVID-19.
This key decision was taken at the Board’s meeting of 17-18 June 2020, and recognising Unitaid’s role in the ‘Access to COVID-19 Tools’ (ACT) Accelerator partnership for development and availability of vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics for COVID-19. This comes on top of US$ 30 million already agreed in March 2020 as part of the COVID-19 response.
This decision comes in the context of the additional funding needs for the ACT-Accelerator work. Unitaid has identified a total of US$265 million for its proposed work in the therapeutics, diagnostics and access areas.
The Board’s action on a second tranche of funding will allow Unitaid to move fast to support needs identified by the ACT-Accelerator, in key areas like research and development of promising therapies, development and scale-up of rapid diagnostic tests adapted for low- and middle-income countries, as well as ensuring affordability and supporting health systems.
In agreeing the new funding, the Executive Board stressed the need to continue supporting existing grantees and ensuring that their interventions can resume as quickly as possible. This goes hand-in-hand with the work of the ACT-Accelerator to prevent an increase in mortality and morbidity from other diseases (such as AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria) as health systems and prevention efforts are disrupted, strained or overwhelmed by COVID-19.
Marisol Touraine, Chair of the Executive Board said, “Unitaid and Wellcome are working together as hard as we can on these efforts. There are some exciting short-term developments, but we need to keep the scientific and political momentum going as we look at work that will deliver key therapies in the medium to longer-term.”
Dr Philippe Duneton, Unitaid Executive Director, a.i., said, “We face the challenge of identifying candidate medicines to prevent and treat COVID-19. There are some well-known medicines that might have possible therapeutic use and some new ones that still need work to understand them better.” He continues, “We also need to look at how these different medicines work in different stages of infection – from pre-exposure, mild cases right through to patients with severe or critical conditions. Recent news on dexamethasone use in severe cases is encouraging and we need to continue investing in better medicines now and in the medium to longer-term.”
The Therapeutics Partnership consists of a large number of public and private-sector organizations, foundations, academic institutions, civil society representatives and companies. It is co-led by Unitaid and Wellcome.
Given the close link between testing and treating in the COVID-19 response, Unitaid also participates in the Diagnostics Partnership where it co-leads the work on ensuring market readiness. It is also engaged in activities for health systems strengthening as part of its work to ensure equitable access.
For information on Unitaid’s response to COVID-19 please see https://unitaid.org/covid-19/#en
Media contact: Martin HARVEY | +41 79 249 35 29 | harveym@unitaid.who.int
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Unitaid backs WHO and Costa Rica call to action on pooling of knowledge and rights for COVID-19 global public goods
Geneva — Unitaid welcomes the call by WHO and the President of Costa Rica for the voluntary pooling of knowledge, intellectual property and data for COVID-19 health technologies to help ensure equitable access to global public goods.
WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and President Carlos Alvarado Quesada of Costa Rica launched the initiative at a digital event on Friday 29 May, together with the support of a large number of Member States and international organisation. The ‘Solidarity Call to Action’ targets governments, public and private sector funders of research, pharmaceutical industry, as well as researchers themselves.
Marisol Touraine, Chair of the Unitaid Executive Board and former French health minister said, “Equitable access to better medicines, tests and preventive methods is at the heart of Unitaid’s work – not just for COVID-19 but for HIV, tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases.” She continues, “We very much support the call for non-exclusive and global voluntary licensing through the Unitaid-established and supported Medicines Patent Pool, as well as through other mechanisms such as the UN Technology Bank-WHO TechAccess Partnership.”
Speaking at the launch, Dr Philippe Duneton, Unitaid Executive Director a.i., said. “Voluntary pooling is an important step in towards equitable access to COVID-19 medicines and tests. Intellection property rights are not the problem here, it is the way in which they are used. We expect the pharmaceutical industry to turn IP rights into solutions. Unitaid has created and supported MPP, and it has shown the way for the HIV response; this model is also key for the COVID-19 response”. He continues, “Global threats need global solutions. Equitable access to vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics is key to ending this pandemic, and what’s more they also need to be affordable.”
The Solidarity Call to Action follows the adoption on 20 May 2020 of the World Health Assembly Resolution that places multilateral cooperation and equity at the centre of the COVID-19 global response. The Resolution calls for universal, timely and equitable access to quality health products that are safe and affordable.
Unitaid is also a leading partner in the ACT Accelerator, launched by the WHO jointly with governments and partners in April, as part of the global COVID-19 response coordinated by WHO, to accelerate the development of tools to test, treat and prevent against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Media contact: Martin HARVEY | +41 79 249 35 29 | harveym@unitaid.who.int
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Unitaid greets new Korean-led initiative to improve the global response to infectious diseases
Geneva – Unitaid welcomes the launch of the Support Group for Global Infectious Disease Response (G4IDR), an initiative led by the Republic of Korea that seeks to capitalize on lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Geneva-based group convenes several countries and will collaborate with the World Health Organization (WHO) and global health organizations including Unitaid.
Is it part of the wider ‘Group of Friends of Solidarity for Global Health Security’ launched on 12 May 2020 at the UN Headquarters in New York, USA.
The Geneva G4IDR initiative was launched by H.E. Mrs Kang Kyung-wha, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea. Mrs Kang emphasised the role of global institutions in tackling global challenges and said that she hoped the G4IDR Support Group, “will play an important role in facilitating and coordinating cooperation between countries and health organizations, eventually strengthening the global response not only to COVID-19 but to future global health crises that can strike next.”
Speaking at the digital launch, which was also attended by WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Unitaid’s Executive Director a.i. Dr Philipe Duneton said: “We welcome this initiative from the Republic of Korea. It is clear that we cannot control the COVID-19 pandemic unless we ensure equitable access to innovative medicines, tests and technologies. We must leverage the experience of existing organizations, which is precisely the aim of the G4IDR and the Access to COVID-19 Technologies (ACT) Accelerator.”
Unitaid is an official co-convener of the ACT Accelerator therapeutics partnership and an active partner of the diagnostics and health-strengthening pillars.
The G4IDR currently brings together the Republic of Korea, Kenya, Morocco, Peru, Singapore, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, and is also open to other countries that want to improve the global response to current and future pandemics.
Media contact: Martin HARVEY | +41 79 249 35 29 | harveym@unitaid.who.int
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World Health Assembly puts multilateral cooperation and equity at heart of COVID-19 response
Unitaid welcomes the adoption of a key Resolution by the World Health Assembly that sets out its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, that places multilateral cooperation and equity at its heart.
The Resolution calls for universal, timely and equitable access to and fair distribution of all quality, safe, efficacious and affordable essential health technologies and products as a global priority.
In particular Unitaid notes the call for collaboration to develop, test, and scale-up production of safe, effective, quality, affordable diagnostics, therapeutics, medicines and vaccines for the COVID-19 response, including, existing mechanisms for voluntary pooling and licensing of patents to facilitate timely, equitable and affordable access.
Speaking after the adoption of the Resolution, Dr Philippe Duneton, Unitaid Executive Director a.i. said, “Unitaid is committed to working with its partners in the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator initiative to ensure that innovations to detect, treat and prevent COVID-19 are adapted and available to the most vulnerable populations.”
He continues, “As highlighted in the Resolution, Unitaid encourages all partners to take advantage of existing mechanisms for voluntary pooling and licensing of intellectual property rights for these global public goods, in particular the Medicines Patent Pool. We also recognise the importance of involving civil society and communities in shaping and delivering the response.”
For the text of Resolution A73/CONF./1 Rev.1, adopted on 19 May 2020, please see here.
Media contact: Martin HARVEY | +41 79 249 35 29 | harveym@unitaid.who.int
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Equitable global access to vaccines, treatments and diagnostics is key to tackling COVID-19 pandemic
Geneva – As governments, international organizations, pharmaceutical industry, academia and others focus their efforts on the COVID-19 coronavirus, it is clear that this global pandemic needs a global response. It is both a public health need and a moral duty to ensure that this response is grounded in solidarity to ensure that the vaccines, treatments and diagnostics being developed are accessible to all, everywhere and at the same time.
Heads of State and government, and the World Health Organization, have recognized and actively supported this need.
There is growing international backing for the proposal of the President of Costa Rica for voluntary pooling of knowledge, intellectual property and data necessary for COVID-19 detection, prevention, treatment and response. The pledging marathon co-hosted by the European Union and its partners on 4 May 2020 stressed the need for global development of innovative responses that are both universally available and affordable.
This political will is being translated into action through the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator. Unitaid is proud to be part of the partnership driving the work around development, manufacturing, procurement and deployment of treatments. Core to this work must be to find innovative solutions that are adapted and accessible to all, especially in low-resource settings.
Marisol Touraine, Chair of the Unitaid Executive Board and former French health minister said, “It must be clear from the beginning that any development of drugs, vaccines or technologies for COVID-19, especially those that use public funds, should be treated as global public health goods. We are talking about sharing intellectual property rights, technology transfers and know-how; respecting them, not giving them up.” She continued, “Unitaid fully supports the declaration by the French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe that access for all to any COVID-19 vaccine, as well as treatments and diagnostics, is not negotiable. We welcome the statement by the French pharmaceutical group Sanofi to make its COVID-19 vaccine available, when ready, to all countries.”
Innovative mechanisms for pooling of intellectual property exist. Dr Philippe Duneton, Unitaid Executive Director a.i. said, “the Medicines Patent Pool was created by Unitaid 10 years ago and has shown it delivers global public health value while respecting intellectual property owners’ rights. We need a common understanding of all partners, industry and civil society ensure that there must be equitable global access to these publicly-funded innovations.”
For information on Unitaid’s response to COVID-19 please see https://unitaid.org/covid-19/#en
Media Contact: Martin HARVEY | +41 79 249 35 29 | harveym@unitaid.who.int
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